CEO / Head of Family Office
Overview
Our client is a single-family office supporting family principals across a growing international footprint, with an active build-out of institutional infrastructure in Dubai.
This newly created role calls for a senior finance and operations leader to act as a Head of Family Office. The role sits within the family office’s Dubai operations, leading the greenfield institutional setup and ongoing operational scaling of the family office in the region, including the establishment of holding structures such as a foundation and mainland operating vehicles.
The position also carries responsibility for cross-border integration with the family’s wider network of family offices, and for supporting the family principals directly across estate structuring, tax planning and financial modelling.
Expectations
Operating Authority & Structuring
- Hold operating authority across the branch for the family’s Dubai entities.
- Own structuring and jurisdiction work, including the greenfield setup of the Dubai architecture, holding vehicles and a foundation, and the sequencing between them.
- Hold funding authority across entities, including judgement of which entity bears which cost and when cross-charging is appropriate.
Tax & Compliance Leadership
- Act as in-house tax and structuring lead: hold the technical fluency to instruct advisers properly, identify where positions from different jurisdictions fail to reconcile, and put framed options to the principals.
- Own statutory residence and compliance positions for the principals, forming and defending a considered view rather than referring the question out.
Adviser Management
- Instruct, manage and interrogate external advisers at Big Four, private client law firm, and corporate service provider level.
Financial Decision-Support
- Build decision-support models attached to structuring questions – e.g. the running cost of a foundation plus mainland vehicle plus holding structure, tax leakage under alternative structures, and residency or funding scenarios.
Office & Operational Management
- Carry responsibility for corporate secretarial, property, insurance and vendor matters, and the day-to-day running of the office itself.
Team Building
- Build and manage the team beneath this role as the branch scales.
Requirements
- Substantial experience – typically 15 years or more – in family offices, corporate development, or tax/structuring practices.
- A track record of instructing and managing external advisers at Big Four, private client law firm, or corporate service provider level.
- Experience forming and defending statutory residence and compliance positions independently.
- Deep fluency in estate/trust governance, financial systems design, and entity compliance.
- Proficiency in cross-border tax treaties (UAE/UK/Singapore/India) is an advantage.
- A strong builder mindset, comfortable moving between high-level strategic architecture and hands-on execution.
- High autonomy under ambiguity.
- Absolute discretion.
- A collaborative, low-ego disposition.
Preference will be given to candidates already resident in Dubai. Applicants must have a willingness to relocate as organisational needs evolve.
Location
Dubai, UAE.
The role requires high flexibility, including comfort travelling internationally at short notice and for substantial durations.
Salary
Competitive, depending on experience.
Job ref
EP24: CEO / Head of Family Office in Dubai, UAE.
